[Rhodes22-list] Hey Slim! What's Up With This

[Slim]

Brad,

Yeah, I saw that one too.  I had no idea.  Thankfully, I can ride the light
rail to and from my house to the airport.  But before the train was built I
used to cab it.  I always felt sorry for them to get me because those guys
sit in line sometimes for hours waiting for a fare.  Then they get me and
I'm only ten minutes away--the fare is about $8.00.  Then they go back and
wait some more.

Slim

On 9/30/06 7:34 AM, "Brad Haslett" <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:

> Slim,
> 
> I may have to re-think my admiration of Somali cab drivers.  Here's the
> article from yesterday's Strib.
> 
> Brad
> 
> --------------------
> 
> [image: StarTribune.com] <http://www.startribune.com/> TAXIS092906
> 
> Last update: September 28, 2006 ­ 11:36 PM
> Got wine at the airport? It's harder to grab a cab About three-quarters of
> the 900 taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are
> Somalis, many of them Muslim. About three times daily, would-be customers
> are refused taxi service when a driver sees they're carrying alcohol.
> 
> *John Reinan <jreinan at startribune.com>,* Star Tribune
> When flight attendant Eva Buzek returned to Minneapolis from a trip to
> France, five taxi drivers refused to take her home from the airport. The
> reason? She had two bottles of wine in her suitcase -- and the drivers were
> Muslims, who don't drink and refuse to have alcohol in their taxis.
> 
> About three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul
> International Airport are Somalis, many of them Muslim. And about three
> times each day, would-be customers are refused taxi service when a driver
> sees they're carrying alcohol.
> 
> "It's become a significant customer-service issue," said Patrick Hogan, a
> spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, on Thursday.
> 
> Now the airports commission has a solution: color-coding the lights on the
> taxi roofs to indicate whether a driver will accept a booze-toting fare. The
> actual colors haven't been decided on yet, but commission officials met
> Thursday with representatives of the taxi drivers and the Minnesota chapter
> of the Muslim American Society to continue working on the plan.
> 
> The airports commission has struggled with the issue for several years.
> Alcohol is a serious concern for devout Muslims, said Hassan Mohamud, an
> imam and vice president of the society. The Qur'an, Islam's holy book,
> strictly forbids buying, selling, drinking or carrying alcohol.
> 
> The observant drivers object only to transporting openly displayed alcohol,
> said Ali Culed, a Somali Muslim who's been driving an airport cab for eight
> years. They won't search passengers or quiz them about what's in their bags.
> 
> 
> "It is a religious issue," Culed said. "I cannot force anybody to change
> their belief, but not in my cab. I don't want the guilt. I just want to be
> an innocent person."
> 
> Hogan said taxi starters at curbside will look for duty-free bags with
> bottles or other obvious signs of alcohol and steer riders to cabs whose
> drivers don't object to booze.
> 
> Buzek, the flight attendant, said she was refused service in March after she
> told a driver to be careful with her suitcase because it had wine in it.
> Other drivers in the taxi line passed the word, she said, and four more
> refused her service. A dispatcher finally steered her to a driver who would
> take the fare.
> 
> Buzek, who grew up in Poland, said her treatment goes against American
> values.
> 
> "I came to this country and I didn't expect anybody to adjust to my needs,"
> she said. "I don't want to impose my beliefs on anyone else. That's why I'm
> in this country, because of the freedom.
> 
> "What's going to be next? ... Do I have to cover my head?"
> 
> Mohamud said that wouldn't happen.
> 
> "According to Muslim law, a Muslim driver cannot question a person's faith
> or beliefs," he said. "It's not a matter of the person, it's what the person
> is carrying."
> 
> If other religious issues come up, they'll be dealt with on a case-by-case
> basis, Hogan said.
> 
> "We can't promise that we can accommodate every religious belief," he said.
> "Our interest is in making sure people can get a cab."
> 
> John Reinan € 612-673-7402
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